Historically, the plant world has been the most important source of medicinal agents for the treatment of human and animal disease, and for use as preventative agents in maintaining good health. However, for at least the last 150 years, Western medicine has been dominated by synthetic and/or highly purified chemical agents.
It is now being increasingly recognized, however, that plant extracts may be highly effective agents for the prevention and treatment of disease. This is particularly true when one considers the low toxicity and greatly reduced incidence of adverse effects associated with plant-based medicines as compared with many synthetic or highly purified drugs. In addition, as the plant possesses a large number of pharmaceutically active agents, extracts obtained therefrom exert their activities on a variety of physiologic processes, increasing the range of the desired therapeutic effect.
Although traditional reference sources of herbal medicine are valuable guides to the safe and effective use of plant extracts, the appropriate selection and combination of extracted material is still a major challenge to the development of new, highly effective herbal medicines. The scale of this challenge may be more clearly appreciated when it is realized that there are approximately 750,000 species of flowering plants on earth, only very few of which have been scientifically studied for their potential therapeutic value.
Oral diseases constitute a diverse group of conditions that are responsible for much human suffering. In addition to diseases of the hard tissues of the oral cavity (e.g. dental caries), there are many different pathological conditions affecting the oral mucosa and periodontal tissues. This group includes the commonly found conditions such as gingivitis, periodontal disease, aphthous ulceration and Herpes simplex lesions, as well as the oral manifestations of the less common vesicular-bullous conditions such as bullous pemphigoid, pemphigus, erytheme multiforme and lichen planus, as well as other autoimmune conditions.
The significance of host-related factors in the pathogenesis of conditions such as periodontal disease is being increasingly recognized. Far from being a passive recipient of pathogenic agents released by plaque bacteria, the host tissues themselves (including the biochemical and immunological factors contained therein) are now known to make an active contribution to disease initiation and progression. One group of host factors which have recently received some attention in relation to the pathogenesis of periodontal disease is the group consisting of various tissue-destroying and tissue-remodelling enzymes. Of particular interest is the large group of matrix metalloproteinases (Page, R. C. (1999) J. Periodont. Res. 34: 331-339). It is now believed that certain, defined, metalloproteinases such as matrix metalloproteinases 1-9 are of particular importance for the development and progression of periodontal disease.
Although many pharmaceutical agents have been used in the management of mucosal lesions, many of these have been relatively ineffective, while some (in particular, the systemic regimes) are associated with unacceptable adverse effects. There thus exists a need for new, efficacious and safe modes of treatment for many of the aforementioned mucosal diseases. There is a particular need for a safe, effective topical treatment.
It is a purpose of the present invention to respond to the aforementioned need by providing plant-based compositions for the treatment of mucosal diseases.
It is another purpose of the invention to provide plant-based anti-viral compositions for use in the treatment of oral and genital lesions.
It is a further purpose of the invention to provide compositions for the treatment of mucosal diseases having higher efficacy and more rapid onset than compositions previously known in the art.
It is a still further purpose of the invention to provide compositions having lower toxicity and incidence of adverse effects than pharmaceutical compositions for the treatment of mucosal diseases that have been previously described in the art.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.